Some 27 companies reported 92 purchases of their shares by directors worth HK$52 million in the period June 10 to 14, while nine companies reported 41 disposals worth HK$197 million.

The number and value of purchases decreased from the previous week's 160 purchases worth HK$486 million. On the selling side, the number of firms and trades dropped from the previous week's 16 companies and 73 disposals, but their value increased, from HK$125 million.

Property developer Hopewell Holdings bought back stock for the first time since December 2011. It purchased 650,000 shares from June 13 to 14 at an average price of HK$25.59. The purchases were made after the share price fell 27 per cent from its February level.

The firm bought 4.85 million shares from November to December 2011 at an average price of HK$19.72 and 28.8 million shares from January 2005 to June 2010 at an average price of HK$25.02. The stock closed at HK$26.05 on Friday.

Coal mining firm Hidili Industry bought back stock for the first time since listing in September 2007. It bought 16.6 million shares from June 10 to 14 at an average price of HK$1.70.

The trades, which accounted for 58 per cent of the stock's trading volume, were made on the back of a 35 per cent drop in the share price since January. The stock closed at HK$1.70 on Friday.

Executive directors James Wong and Li Jianhua unloaded stock in LCD manufacturer Truly International. They sold a combined 2.8 million shares from June 5 to 10 at an average price of HK$5.10. The selling came after a sharp rise in the share price from its September 2012 level of HK$1.06. Wong sold 800,000 shares on June 10 at a price of HK$4.82, lowering the size of his stake by 12 per cent, to 5.823 million shares, or 0.21 per cent of issued capital.

The sale came after he acquired 500,000 shares via options on May 22 at HK$2.11 and one million shares in the open market on May 21 at HK$4.92.

Li sold two million shares from June 5 to 6 at HK$5.21, which reduced his holdings by 17 per cent to 9.868 million shares, or 0.35 per cent of the firm. He acquired 550,000 shares on April 29 via options at HK$2.11 each and sold 1.8 million shares from April 9 to 19 at an average price of HK$4.24. The stock closed at HK$4.52 on Friday.

Executive directors Zheng Hui and Chen Hong Zhan recorded their first on-market trades in online game developer NetDragon Websoft since 2012. They sold a combined 674,000 shares from June 4 to 11 at an average price of HK$18.57. The sales came after the stock rose 119 per cent from its March level of HK$8.46. The stock is up from its July 2012 level of HK$5.89.

Hui unloaded 664,000 shares from June 4 to 11 at an average price of HK$18.57, which reduced his holdings to 248.099 million shares, or 48.83 per cent. He acquired 71,000 shares via options on June 5 at HK$4.60. Chen sold 10,000 shares from June 5 to 6 at an average price of HK$18.42, lowering his stake to 13.29 million shares, or 2.61 per cent.

He sold 897,000 shares from January to July 2012 at an average price of HK$5.67.

Robert Halili is managing director of Asia Insider

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Buy-back by Hopewell as LCD maker's bosses offload shares